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Monday, Mar 18, 2024
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Arena Drug News Doesn’t Wow Wall Street

An experimental obesity drug made by San Diego-based Arena Pharmaceuticals failed to impress Wall Street despite its ability to lower weight, cholesterol, triglycerides and blood pressure in patients in a late-stage clinical trial.

Shares of Arena, traded under the symbol ARNA on the Nasdaq, fell $1.27, or 28 percent, to close March 30 at $3.23.

Arena revealed its Phase 3 data the same day, showing that obesity drug lorcaserin met its goal by reducing body weight in patients on the drug for a year. But analysts questioned whether the results were enough. Patients lost an average of 5.8 percent of their body weight. Compared with a placebo, the difference was just 3.6 percent, shy of the 5 percent benchmark set by the FDA.

Arena said its results were satisfactory for FDA approval and expects to file a new drug application for lorcaserin by the end of the year. The company is among three hoping to gain FDA approval for an obesity drug. Others include Orexigen Therapeutics of San Diego and Vivus of Mountain View.

, Heather Chambers

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